Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

28 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcohol, Infertility, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Bullying, Cursing, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Torture, Animal death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: War, Miscarriage, and Child death

karen_lo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 stars 
I enjoyed the vibes and rich descriptions of this book. It's very cozy to immerse yourself in the characters' routines and hobbies.
It's a sloooow burn (very slow) but beautifully written.
There were some aspects of the characters' personalities that I didn't like much, hence my punctuation. Overall, it's a great book for getting lost in Dark Academia vibes, fantasy, and lots of history! 📚

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Torture and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Animal death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cursing, Child death, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Infertility

wonderbeastlett's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a forbidden romance type book between a witch and vampire. It also has cozy autumn, academia vibes as it is set on a campus. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

This is a open door book where romantic sexual scenes are privy to the reader.

gansey_02's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Sexual content

joey_paige's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, Death, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, Grief, and Misogyny

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: War and Sexual content

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

mloschi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Good fantasy, with interesting world building and mystery. I liked the dark academia setting. I felt like conflicts within the plot happened and resolved very (almost too) quickly. But overall a good book for some escapism. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Torture

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual content

bodagirl's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

This book kept my interest while reading, but didn't make me want to devour it. I think part of the issue is that the magic system and society are still being defined, as the POV is mostly from Diana, who has denied her heritage for so long, and Matthew, who keeps secrets from other characters and the reader. I'm also a little uncomfortable with Diana and Matthew's relationship; I'm getting the feeling that they are fated, which is fine, but the motivations for why they are drawn together at the start is really unclear. It started as "enemies to lovers" but within a few chapters it became some amorphous connection that

much later on turned into a possible fated mate situation

. I do appreciate that Harkness is stressing that Matthew comes from a very different age and his vampiric instincts make him act possessively, but it makes my modern sensibilities shudder a bit that Diana questions things so very rarely and often just accepts what she is being told.

The aspects of the story I really enjoyed were the historical elements that were woven in (though I wonder along with Diana how Matthew was able to know so many influential thinkers so well) and the idea that demons aren't actually from Hell, but rather randomly popped up as super creative or gifted people. However, the possible connection between "demonic" and some mental health disorders or the Autism spectrum in problematic, even though the demons we meet seem to be fairly well adjusted.

I grabbed the whole series from a used bookshop, so I will probably continue to see if it improves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Sexual content